The Maine Question

We visit with paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill. She studies plants and animals that have been gone a long time- sometimes millions of years. She also studies our natural world today with the goal of trying to understand how and why some species have gone extinct while others have survived and what it means for how we and our planet adapt to the rapidly changing world we find ourselves in.

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what does the future hold for Maine’s forests? Forests play a central role in defining the state — from its geography to the economy to just about any aspect of Maine’s way of life that you can think of. But the way forestry is practiced and the products that come out of the woods have started to change drastically. That trend will ramp up even more in the future. Steve Shaler, director of UMaine’s School of Forest Resources and associate director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, talks about these changes and what they mean for the state of Maine in the third episode of the second season.

Every day in the United States, about 10,000 people turn 65. Nowhere is that aging trend more profound than in the state of Maine. But reaching that milestone age is a lot different now than it was for previous generations. Many people 65 and older are active, healthier, continue working, and live longer than ever before. In the second episode of the second season, Len Kaye, the director of UMaine's Center on Aging, tackles the question, what are the challenges and opportunities that come with being the oldest state in the nation?

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what changes affect how news is delivered and consumed in the 21st century? Fake news, paywalls, Twitterbots, artificial intelligence, Russian trolls, TikTok, and confirmation bias are fundamentally changing the media landscape. It’s a far cry from when Walter Cronkite was America’s most trusted television newsman and people tuned in nightly to learn about the day’s happenings. In the first episode of the second podcast season, Michael Socolow, an associate professor of communication and journalism at UMaine, talks with host Ron Lisnet about the state of journalism, about how news is delivered and consumed, and what that all means.

Season two of The Maine Question podcast from the University of Maine kicks off February 6, 2020. We continue our conversations with UMaine researchers who are exploring big issues, intriguing topics and complex questions.

In this episode we continue our conversation with Paul Mayewski- director of UMaine’s Climate ChangeInstitute. During the past 50 years or so he has led several dozen research trips to the world’s most remote places-Antarctica, the Himalayas, the arctic among them. In part two he shares more tales of his adventures. He discusses the unexpected parts of his work- namely dealing with media coverage and politics of the topic of climate change, what he sees as the future for this highly charged topic and how the human race will cope with it or not.

What’s it like in the most remote, harsh and spectacular locations on Earth? Anyone with a thirst for adventure has likely dreamed of seeing the South Pole, Mount Everest, or the massive ice sheets of Greenland. Paul Mayewski has done all that and more. In the first of a two-part conversation, he talks with host Ron Lisnet about his adventures during his 55-plus expeditions in extreme locales. The scientist, explorer and director of the University of Maine Climate Change Institute estimates he’s lived about four years’ total in a tent or under the stars in remote regions. His devotion has resulted in groundbreaking discoveries about climate change. Hear him talk about preparing locally and globally for what’s in store.

In this episode we'll look at the challenges and opportunities of starting and running a food or beverage business in Maine. Is Maine a good place to create businesses such as these? What is the Maine brand? It’s one thing to have a great idea for a delicious food product or a unique beverage but that is just a starting point. Jason Bolton, a food safety specialist from UMaine Cooperative Extension, has been the go-to guy for the vast majority of food and beverage companies in Maine when they face these challenges. He has advised businesses of all shapes and sizes, particularly ones that work with lobsters and Maine’s rapidly growing craft beer and distillery industry.

In this episode we’ll delve into what is perhaps the most personal and profound decision an individual, a couple, or a family can make… The choice on whether to have children or not. It is a decision that is life changing on a personal level, but it also ripples out into communities and into our politics, immigration, tax issues, workforce development among other areas.

In this episode, we explore the unique career path of lighting designer Don Holder, UMaine class of ’80 who has worked on Broadway, in film, television, opera and dance across the globe. His lighting designs have earned 13 Tony Award nominations and two Tonys — most notably for Disney’s “The Lion King,” which garnered him his first award in 1998. In this episode, Holder tells his story — beginning in the late ’70s when he was, of all things, a forestry major at UMaine.